Almost exactly one year ago, Ohio State defensive back Mike Doss walked up to the podium at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to announce whether or not he was going to forgo his senior season to enter the National Football League Draft.
If he did leave early, Doss could have been drafted as high as the second round and guaranteed millions.
But in a tearful address to the media, Doss announced his intentions to stay.
“OSU gave me a chance to get my education,” Doss said in his press conference. “I want to continue that.”
But Doss also had another goal in mind.
“I wanted to win a national championship,” Doss said after the Fiesta Bowl. “I truly believed we could do it and I wanted to do that.”
That unselfishness and dedication was apparent to Doss’ teammates.
“It showed a lot about his character and the love he has for us,” said defensive back and Doss’ good friend Will Allen. “He told me that he would come back and we’d go to the national championship. I told him, ‘Let’s do it,’ and we’d be by his side.”
Throughout the Buckeyes’ run to the championship, many of the underclassmen rallied around Doss and the other 12 OSU seniors.
“We wanted to win this for him, for the 13 seniors,” said defensive end Simon Fraser. “We wanted to go out there and win this for them.”
Winning championships is nothing new to Doss. At Canton McKinley High School, Doss won back-to-back state titles in 1997 and 1998. Because of that, Doss did not want to leave OSU without a championship.
“I’ve won championships at every level I’ve played in since I was eight years old,” Doss said. “It’s definitely a great honor and great blessing.”
Doss’ play in the Fiesta Bowl earned him the Defensive Player of the Game Award. Doss finished the game with nine tackles and a second-quarter interception from Miami’s Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback, Ken Dorsey.
Doss also played a major role in the Buckeye defense’s final stand against the Hurricanes. While it may not have been apparent to fans, Doss played a vocal role inside the defensive huddle.
“I just said that someone had to make a play,” he said. “It was fourth-and-one; it was the last play. It came down to it, and we were able to step up to the challenge.”
Not only did the victory give Doss his national championship, but it also gave the three-time All-American a little retribution. In his first game as a Buckeye, Doss faced Miami in the 1999 Kickoff Classic. The Hurricanes got the best of OSU that day in a 23-12 victory.
“In my career, all the teams I’ve played, I either was .500 or I won,” Doss said. “To lose to Miami that game gave me motivation to win this one.”
With the national title on his resume, Doss’ next stop will be the NFL, the same thing he passed up one year ago. But now, Doss could be in for even more.
“Mike Doss is going to get even more millions now,” Allen said. “This is going to rise his stock up. He’s going to be playing on Sundays for a long time.”
